Heat sink assembly of fin module and heat pipes

ABSTRACT

A heat sink assembly includes a fin module, heat pipes, and a pair of side plates. The fin module is composed of a plurality of fins and has a flat side formed with a trough and two recesses. Each of the heat pipes has an evaporation section. The evaporation sections are parallelly accommodated in the trough and in contact with each other. The side plates are separately fixed in the recesses and protrude from the flat side. The evaporation sections are formed with a flat surface coplanar with the side plates. By this arrangement, the thermal contact area between the heat pipes and a heat source is increased to thereby improve the heat-dissipating efficiency of the heat sink assembly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to a heat sink with heat pipes, particularly to a heat sink assembly of a fin module and heat pipes.

2. Related Art

Heat sinks associated with heat pipes have enough ability of heat dissipation for satisfying requirements of the CPUs. However, there still is not a perfect solution in the aspect of assembling heat pipes and a fin module.

A conventional heat sink is comprised of a fin module and a plurality of heat pipes, in which the fin module is formed with a plurality of troughs and separation sections between two adjacent troughs. The heat pipes are separately accommodated in the troughs and pressed to make a flat surface coplanar with the separation sections.

The coplane of the heat pipes and fin module is used for being in thermal contact with a heat source. However, the efficiency of heat transfer of the separation sections is much lower than that of the heat pipes. Hence, the whole efficiency of heat transfer is considerably limited. Besides, because the heat pipes are out of contact with each other, when a heat pipe fails, another heat pipe(s) cannot assist in heat transfer, so that the heat source may suffer damage or burn down. This is a problem to be solved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a heat sink assembly, which arranges a plurality of heat pipes to be parallel and in contact with each other so that a plane of thermal contact of the heat pipes can be continuous and the efficiency of heat transfer can be enhanced.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a heat sink assembly, in which another heat pipe(s) can assist in heat trnasfer when a heat pipe fails.

To accomplish the above objects, the heat sink assembly of the present invention includes a fin module, a plurality of heat pipes, and a pair of side plates. The fin module is composed of a plurality of fins and has a flat side formed with a trough and two recesses. Each of the heat pipes has an evaporation section. The evaporation sections are parallelly accommodated in the trough and in contact with each other. The side plates are separately fixed in the recesses and protrude from the flat side. The evaporation sections are formed with a flat plane coplanar with the outer surfaces of the side plates.

To accomplish the above objects, the heat sink assembly of the present invention includes a fin module and a plurality of heat pipes. The fin module is composed of a plurality of fins and has a flat side formed with a trough. Each of the heat pipes has an evaporation section. The evaporation sections are parallelly accommodated in the trough and in contact with each other. The evaporation sections are formed with a flat plane at a level higher than the side plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an explded perspective view of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an assembled perspective view of the present invention before the heat pipes are flattened;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention after the heat pipes are flattened;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the present invention associated with a heat source; and

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The detailed description and technical contents of the present invention will become apparent with the following detailed description accompanied with related drawings. It is noteworthy to point out that the drawings is provided for the illustration purpose only, but not intended for limiting the scope of the present invention.

Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 3. The present invention provides a heat sink assembly including a fin module 10, a plurality of heat pipes 20 and a pair of side plates 30.

The fin module 10 is made by stacking a plurality of fins 11. Such fins 11 may be made of aluminum, copper or the alloys thereof. The fin module 10 is formed with a flat side 12. The flat side 12 is further formed with a trough 13 having three sub-troughs 131. The number of the sub-troughs 131 is not limited to three, any quantity except one is available. A separation section 132 is provided between any two adjacent sub-troughs 131. The separation sections 132 are lower than the flat side 12 in level so that a height difference is formed therebetween. Two lateral sides of the trough 13 are separately formed with a recess 14. The sub-troughs 131 and recesses 14 of the fins 11 are formed with bent flanges 15. Through holes 16 are provided in the fins 11.

There is a wick structure and working fluid in the heat pipes 20. Heat can be transferred from one end to the other end of the heat pipe 20 by means of phase change of the working fluid. In the shown embodiment, there are three heat pipes 20. Each heat pipe 20 has an evaporation section 21 and one or two condensation sections 22. The evaporation sections 21 are parallely accommodated in the sub-troughs 131 of the trough 13 as shown in FIG. 3.

The side plates 30 are also made of aluminum, copper or the alloys thereof. The coefficient of thermal conductivity of the side plates 30 is higher than or equal to that of the fins 11. In the shown embodiment, the side plates 30 are separately accommodated in the recesses 14. A part of each of the side plates 30 protrudes from the flat side 12 and the exposed part thereof has an outer surface 311.

Please refer to FIGS. 4 and 5. Solder 40 is soldered on the bent flanges 15 of the trough 13 and recesses 14 as shown in FIG. 3. The evaporation sections 21 of the heat pipes 20 are placed in the trough 13 and the side plates 30 are placed in the recesses 14 and beside the heat pipes 20. The heat pipes 20 and side plates 30 are soldered on the fins 11 of the fin module 10. Then the heat pipes 20 are pressed by a tool (not shown) to form a flat surface 211 coplanar with the outer surface 311 of the side plates 30. The flat surface 211 is continuous and coplanar. In other words, the deformed heat pipes 20 are in contact with each other as shown in FIG. 4.

Please refer to FIG. 6. The heat sink assembly of the present invention may be applied to a heat source 8 on a circuit board 7. The heat source 8 is in thermal contact with the outer surface 311 of the side plates 30 and the flat surface 211 of the heat pipes 20. The heat from the heat source 8 is absorbed by the evaporation sections 21 and the side plates 30. After the side plates 30 and the evaporation sections 21 absorb the heat, the working fluid in the heat pipes 20 evaporates to become vapor. The vapor carries away the heat and flows toward a low-temperature region of the heat pipe 20. When the vapor reaches the condensation section 22, the vapor condenses in the condensation section 22 by means of the heat exchange of the fins 11 of the fin module 10 with external air. The condensed working liquid reflows to the evaporation section 21 by means of the capillary force in the wick structure.

Please refer to FIG. 7, which shows another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the side plates 30 are removed from the heat sink assembly. The evaporation sections 21 of the heat pipes 20 are soldered in the sub-troughs 131 on the fins 11 and pressed to form a coplanar flat surface 211 higher than the flat side 12 in level. Also, the deformed heat pipes 20 are in contact with each other.

While the forgoing is directed to preferred embodiments of the present invention, other and further embodiments of the present invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof. As such, the appropriate scope of the present invention is to be determined according to the claims. 

1. A heat sink assembly, comprising: a fin module, composed of a plurality of fins, having a flat side formed with a trough and two recesses; a plurality of heat pipes, each having an evaporation section, wherein the evaporation sections are parallelly accommodated in the trough and in contact with each other; and a pair of side plates, separately fixed in the recesses and located higher than the flat side, wherein the evaporation sections are formed with a flat surface coplanar with outer surfaces of the side plates.
 2. The heat sink assembly of claim 1, wherein the trough comprises at least two sub-troughs, a separation section is formed between any two adjacent sub-troughs, a top surface of a free end of the separation section is located in a level lower than that of the flat side, and the separation sections are lower than the flat side in level to form a height difference.
 3. The heat sink assembly of claim 1, wherein the coefficient of thermal conductivity of the side plates are higher than that of the fins.
 4. The heat sink assembly of claim 1, wherein the side plates are made of copper.
 5. The heat sink assembly of claim 1, wherein the fin module is formed with through holes, and each of the heat pipes comprises a condensation section extending from the evaporation section and penetrating one of the through holes.
 6. The heat sink assembly of claim 1, wherein each of the fins is formed with a bent flange at the trough respectively and the evaporation sections are soldered to the bent flanges.
 7. The heat sink assembly of claim 1, wherein each of the fins is formed with a bent flange at the recess respectively, and the side plates are soldered to the bent flanges.
 8. A heat sink assembly, comprising: a fin module, composed of a plurality of fins, having a flat side formed with a trough; and a plurality of heat pipes, each having an evaporation section, wherein the evaporation sections are parallelly accommodated in the trough and in contact with each other, and the evaporation sections are formed with a flat surface higher than the flat side in level.
 9. The heat sink assembly of claim 8, wherein the trough comprises at least two sub-troughs, a separation section is formed between any two adjacent sub-troughs, a top surface of a free end of the separation section is located in a level lower than that of the flat side, and the separation sections are lower than the flat side in level to form a height difference.
 10. The heat sink assembly of claim 8, wherein the fin module is formed with through holes, and each of the heat pipes comprises a condensation section extending from the evaporation section and penetrating one of the through holes.
 11. The heat sink assembly of claim 8, wherein the fins are formed with bent flanges at the trough, and the evaporation sections are soldered to the bent flanges. 